Project Access Explained

Summary

This article explains how project access works in BuilderPal—who can see which projects, how team boundaries affect visibility, and how General Contractors and Subcontractors collaborate without ever sharing full project workspaces. Understanding these rules ensures your team knows exactly what each person can see and do inside BuilderPal.

Prerequisites

You understand your team role (Admin, PM, Supervisor, etc.).
You have access to at least one project.

How Project Access Works

Project access is determined by two separate systems:

Your Role — defines what you can do inside a project
Your Project Access — defines which projects you can open or see

These systems work together, but they are not the same.
A role does not grant visibility into every project—only into projects your team owns or ones you’ve been added to.

1. Projects Belong to Teams

Every project in BuilderPal is owned by a team, not an individual.

Your GC organization owns GC-created projects
Each subcontractor organization owns the subcontractor project automatically created when they are awarded work
Internal Projects belong to your team
Personal projects (My Tasks Workspace) belong only to the individual user

Because each organization owns their own projects:

Project access never crosses team boundaries unless shared through an Action.

2. Access Inside Your Own Team

Inside your company, your role determines visibility across your team’s projects.

Team Administrator

Can see every project your team owns
Can see all actions inside those projects
Can manage roles, participants, settings, and financials
❌ Cannot open another team’s projects (e.g., subcontractor projects)
❌ Cannot open personal “My Tasks” projects unless invited

Project Manager

Can see all projects owned by your team
Can view and manage all tasks, schedules, and documents
❌ Cannot open subcontractor-owned projects
❌ Cannot open someone’s My Tasks Workspace unless invited

Supervisors, Leads, and Team Members

These roles can see:

Projects they are added to
Actions that are assigned to them
Documents they have permission to view or upload

They cannot view projects they have not been invited into.

3. Cross-Team Access (GC ↔ Subcontractor)

When you hire a subcontractor and award a bid:

A GC Project belongs to your team
A Subcontractor Project belongs to the subcontractor’s organization

Even though these two projects are related:

What the GC Cannot See

The subcontractor’s project dashboard
Their internal actions, schedules, or documents
Their financials, budgets, or estimates
Their Site Office or Reports
Their participants list

What the GC Can See

Only items shared through Actions, such as:

Punch Lists
RFIs
Change Orders
Purchase Orders & Bills
Submitted documents
Status updates

This ensures clean collaboration without exposing internal project data.

4. How Information Flows Between Teams

Projects are private.
Actions are shared.

Actions act as the “bridge” between GC and subcontractor teams.

Each team can see:

The actions assigned to them
The comments and files inside those actions
PO/Bill submissions
Linked estimate/budget values after they are submitted

Each team cannot see:

Each other’s project workspaces
Each other’s internal tasks or schedules
Any private documents not shared through an action
Any financials belonging to the other team

This mirrors real construction workflows—each company maintains its own internal job folder while collaborating through structured requests and deliverables.

5. Subcontractor Projects

When a subcontractor is awarded work, they receive a full private project, including:

Their own estimate & budget
Their own schedule and tasks
Their own documents
Their own financial center
Their own Site Office
Their own reports

The GC cannot open or browse this project.

GC visibility into Subcontractor work:

✔ Assigned actions
✔ Submitted POs/Bills (through the action thread)
✔ Uploaded files within those actions
✔ Status updates
❌ Not their project contents

6. Upstream vs Downstream Assignments

Assignment direction controls visibility:

GC → Subcontractor (Downstream)

GC sees everything related to the assigned action
Subcontractor sees only that action—not the GC project
Subs cannot assign tasks back upstream to the GC

Subcontractor → GC (Upstream)

Subcontractors cannot originate upstream assignments
They can only respond inside actions the GC created

This prevents upstream task creation and keeps responsibilities clear.

7. My Tasks Workspace vs Assigned Work

My Tasks Workspace is a private personal project that belongs only to you.
It does not belong to your team, and even Admins cannot open it unless you invite them.

Inside My Tasks:

You see only the tasks you create yourself
Only participants you manually invite can access it
It does not show all tasks assigned to you across BuilderPal
It does not inherit any team-level visibility rules
It functions as your own personal workspace inside BuilderPal

To see tasks assigned to you across all projects, use your To-Do List, not My Tasks.

Summary Table

User Type	GC Projects	Sub Projects	Personal Projects	Action Visibility
GC Admin	Full access	No access	Only if invited	Full for shared actions
GC PM	Full access	No access	Only if invited	Full for shared actions
GC Team Member	Only if added	No access	Only if invited	Actions assigned to them
Sub Admin	No access	Full access	Only if invited	Full for shared actions
Sub PM	No access	Full access	Only if invited	Full for shared actions
Sub Worker	No access	Only if added	Only if invited	Actions assigned to them
Any User	No	No	Yes (their own)	Actions assigned to them

FAQ

Can Admins see all projects?
Admins can see all projects owned by their own team, but cannot access subcontractor-owned projects or personal My Tasks projects unless invited.

Can subcontractors see my GC project?
No. Subcontractors only see actions assigned to them, not your full project workspace.

Do POs and Bills sync between GC and Sub projects?
Yes—because they are Actions. The action thread manages visibility, not the project itself.

Can subcontractors assign actions to the GC?
No. Work only flows downstream from GC → Sub.

Why can’t I see a project someone mentioned?
You must either:

be added as a participant, or
be part of the team that owns that project, or
be the owner of a personal My Tasks project.